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NHL approves Phoenix Coyotes sale: report

Canadian-led group including former Ice Edge bidders still faces Glendale lease hurdle.

Phoenix Coyotes fans have had a solid team to cheer for amid ownership turmoil. (Christian Petersen / GETTY IMAGES)

By Bob BaumThe Associated Press

Sat., May 25, 2013

PHOENIX—The NHL has approved the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to a Canadian-led group of investors, but the deal is contingent on reaching a lease agreement with the city of Glendale, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The NHL agreed to sell the team to Renaissance Sports & Entertainment, a group headed by George Gosbee, Anthony LeBlanc and Daryl Jones, according to the people, who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity because there had been no official announcement.

They said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and the prospective buyers will meet with Glendale officials on Tuesday for talks on a lease.

The NHL bought the Coyotes out of U.S. bankruptcy court in 2009 and has tried without success to find a buyer to keep the team in Glendale.

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The approval of the Gosbee group's sale by the NHL was first reported by Fox Sports Arizona.

LeBlanc and some of this group's partners, among them Daryl Jones, were part of a previous effort to buy the team under the name Ice Edge, Inc. Gosbee, a banker and financier, is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Alberta-based AltaCorp Capital Inc.

The lease with Glendale has always been a sticking point in the sale of the team. Glendale owns Jobing.com Arena, where the Coyotes play and the city has spent tens of millions of dollars to help cover the franchise's operating losses under the NHL's nearly four-year ownership of the team. Any lease deal also likely will cost the financially-strapped city, but losing the team as an anchor tenant may cost much more.

If this effort falls through, Bettman could finally give up on his insistence on keeping the team in Arizona and agree to a move of the franchise, which has lost money since it moved to the desert from Winnipeg in 1996.

Despite the uncertainty and limitations of its ownership situation, the Coyotes had surprising success on the ice, making it to the Western Conference final last season. The team failed to make the playoffs in this season.

On Friday, the Coyotes announced a long-term contract extension with general manager Don Maloney while working to re-sign coach Dave Tippett.

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